U.K.
Union members have voted in favour of changes to pensions at the EDF Energy company. In particular, the unions are pleased that the new arrangements not only maintain a defined benefit scheme but this option will also be available to new employees. Also important for the unions was ensuring that the pension arrangements were appropriate for workers on lower salaries.
Read more at > Unison
And at > GMB
Unions at the ESB electricity company called off planned strike action before Christmas after negotiations secured an agreement over treatment of the pension scheme. The unions were pleased that the company will continue to treat the pension scheme as defined benefit rather than defined contribution and also that there will be a commitment to tackle any future pension deficits in the same way as they have been dealt with in the past. Read more at > RTE news website (EN)
Members of nine local government trade unions have voted to back a national one-day strike on 28 March. This could be followed by selective action at regional and local level. The unions are protesting at government proposals to remove the 85 rule from the local government pension scheme. This rule allows members to retire early on a full pension if their age and length of service add up to 85. The unions point out that the local government scheme is the only one in the public sector facing this kind of reduction in benefits and 75% of its members are women workers, many of them on the lowest
Public service unions have made clear that they are unhappy about government proposals to change the pension age and calculation. The CGT local government federation wants to retain the right to retire at 60 and for a pension worth 75% of salary after a full career. It also called on the government to organise negotiations involving all the public service federations. FO’s civil service federation has attacked the conclusions of a report from the Pensions Advisory Council. The federation challenges some of the assumptions it has used in the Council’s forecasts, claiming that it has tried to
